Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

Nursery for Jihad
At the primary stage, madrasa pupils learnt to read, memorize and
recite the Qur’an. Exegeses of the holy script and other branches of
Islamic studies were introduced at the higher stages of learning. 5 Though
the focus was on religious learning, some institutions also taught
elementary mathematics, science and English. The most dangerous
consequence of the content and style of teaching in religious schools
was that the people that emerged could do nothing apart from guide
the faithful in rituals that demand no experts. Job opportunities for
madrasa graduates were few and narrow. They could only work in
mosques, madrasas, the parent religious sectarian party, or its affiliate
businesses or organizations.
The education imparted by traditional madrasas often spawned
factional, religious and cultural conflict. It created barriers to modern
knowledge, stifled creativity and bred bigotry, thus laying the
foundation on which fundamentalism – militant or otherwise – was
based. Divided by sectarian identities, these institutions were, by their
very nature, driven by their zeal to outnumber and dominate rival
sects. 6 Students were educated and trained to counter the arguments
of opposing sects on matters of theology, jurisprudence and doctrines.
Promoting a particular sect inevitably implied the rejection of other
sects, sowing the seeds of extremism in the minds of the students. 7
The literature produced by their parent religious organizations
promoted sectarian hatred and was aimed at proving the rival sects
as infidels and apostates. The efforts by the successive government
to modernize madrasa curricula and introduce secular subjects failed
because of stiff resistance from the religious organizations controlling
the religious schools.
The rise of jihad culture since the 1980s gave madrasas a new
sense of purpose. As a result, their numbers multiplied and the clergy
emerged as a powerful political and social force. At independence in
1947, there were only 137 madrasas in Pakistan; in the next ten years
their number rose to 244. After that, they doubled every ten years. 8 A
significant number remained unregistered and therefore it was hard to
know precisely how many there were. Government sources put the
figure at 13,000, with total enrolment close to 1.7 million. 9 The vast
majority of students were between five and 18 years old. Only those
advancing into higher religious studies were older. According to the
government’s own estimates, ten to 15 per cent of the madrasas had
links with sectarian militancy or international terrorism. The trail of
international terror often led to the madrasas and mosques.